Abstract:
This paper offers a Latvian perspective on the challenges faced by Latvia in its efforts to create a united society after its independence was restored in 1991. Despite corrections made to policies and the paraphrasing of the approaches, social integration in Latvian society has been evaluated as having failed. The renewed identification with democratic values has also brought along the challenges of the contemporary democracies – novel divisions keep the society apart. The discrepancy in values within Latvian society raises an assumption: perhaps the signs that represent specific values are detached from their content, and a closer look at the idea of a unity of society must be taken in light of this assumption. By using the analysis of social cohesion in Latvia, empirical material, and Jean Baudrillard’s view on the autonomy of signs (which is complemented by the views of Giorgio Agamben and Roberto Esposito on community), reflections on the failure of social cohesion are offered, suggesting it arises from the application of a modern understanding to signs and society in a postmodern reality.
Keywords:
community, society, social cohesion, values, signs, Latvia, European Union
How to cite:
Valdmane, Marta. “The Failure of Signs and the Need for Community: A Latvian Perspective on Developing a Cohesive Society.” Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 9, no. 2 (2025): 84-101. https://doi.org/10.14394/eidos.jpc.2025.0015.
Author:
Marta Valdmane
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology
Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia
Kalpaka boulevard 4, Riga, LV-1050, Latvia
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0703-4058
marta.valdmane@lu.lv
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